The problem with Summer Game Festival, like all of Keighley’s shows, is that they live and die by the content shown – and this was particularly weak. While we fully expect Microsoft to relax later this weekend, with its trio of publishers gathered in one showcase, it’s becoming increasingly clear that AAA gaming is stuck in an endless winter. With development cycles longer than ever and the impact of the pandemic still looming, it seems the medium is light on the worst right now.
That’s not to say there’s nothing to play for, there clearly is: LEGO Horizon Adventures exceeded all our expectations and looks like a really fun alternative to Aloy’s adventures; Metaphor: ReFantazio seems locked in as another must-have RPG from Atlus, the team behind the Persona titles; Slitterhead has all the insane and unbridled creativity of Japan Studio’s cult classic and; Black Myth: Wukong is actually coming out after years of waiting.
But looking at the reaction to the show, it’s clear that most fans don’t think it’s sizzling — if anything, it’s barely fizzled. And that’s because, with respect, as with Sony Game state recently, gamers stayed up until after midnight in Europe to find out that Amazon’s MMO New World was being ported to the PS5; they don’t get up early in Asia to learn that Valorant’s console port is getting a closed console beta. They want to see Naughty Dog; they want to see Sucker Punch. Hell, they want to see Kaylee lustfully staring at Hideo Kojima while he babbles on for dozens of minutes at a time.
Summer Game Fest has other issues, beyond drastically extended development cycles, of course. As an independent show, it has to justify its own existence, and so its excessively long two-hour running time seems to exist only so that Keeley can insert enough commercials. As previously reported, it costs a huge amount of money to show them, but outside of physical ticket sales, they’re the only source of income that exists to fund the whole thing in the first place.
Keighley is also against expectations and E3 it’s still recent enough for fans to reminisce about the glory years. As we noted recently, it’s been less than a decade since Sony released The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Shenmue 3 back-to-back; even less has passed since the epic press conference that featured the reboot of God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man and more. The industry is just in a different place these days, but still the comparisons remain. It’s not fair, but Jeff is the one who tried to fill the hole left by convention, and so he was always going to attract the criticism that comes with that.
This was undoubtedly the weakest Summer Game Fest to date, and a lot of that comes down to the fact that there isn’t enough mainstream, notable content to showcase. For our money, the show peaked with LEGO Horizon Adventures, and that was the first title on display. It’s not really Kaley’s fault that he hasn’t been able to lock down a single hit game this year, but at the same time, it might beg the question: we even must an independent summer showcase at all?
The media is now actually in Los Angeles I play several different games as part of Summer Game Fest adjacent to Play Days. And there will still be showcases from Xbox and Ubisoft in the coming days, which means plenty more games to come. It still has some value in this seasonal offering of gaming announcements, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that gamers’ expectations are no longer aligned with what the industry can actually deliver. And that means that something, at some point, will have to give.
How would you rate the temperature at this year’s Summer Game Fest? Do you think it was hot or did it make you feel cold? As always, let us know in the comments section below.
